Automated exploitation of virtual machine resource modifications

ABSTRACT

At least one application in a distributed computing environment is deployed. At least one resource of a virtual machine is provided to the at least one application in the distributed computing environment. The at least one resource of the virtual machine provided is recorded in metadata and the at least one application receives the metadata and using the metadata the at least one application determines how much of the at least one resource of the virtual machine to utilize. A change to the at least one resource of the virtual machine is determined. Responsive to determining the change to the at least one resource of the virtual machine, the metadata is modified. The at least one application uses the modified metadata to determine how much of the changed at least one resource of the virtual machine to use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of platform as aservice, and more particularly to optimization of changes to cloudrecourses in a platform as a service environment.

In a cloud environment, Platform As A Service (PAAS) refers to theability to a expose a platform, such as a Web Serving platform whichincludes an application server, database, messaging server, etc., as aservice so that business users are devoid of platform management.Instead, the business users can solely concentrate on the businessapplications that are deemed to run on the platform.

SUMMARY

Embodiment of the present invention include a method, computer programproduct, and system for automated exploitation of virtual machineresource modifications. In one embodiment, at least one application in adistributed computing environment is deployed. At least one resource ofa virtual machine is provided to the at least one application in thedistributed computing environment. The at least one resource of thevirtual machine provided is recorded in metadata and the at least oneapplication receives the metadata and using the metadata the at leastone application determines how much of the at least one resource of thevirtual machine to utilize. A change to the at least one resource of thevirtual machine is determined. Responsive to determining the change tothe at least one resource of the virtual machine, the metadata ismodified. The at least one application uses the modified metadata todetermine how much of the changed at least one resource of the virtualmachine to use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a cloud computing node, in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 2 depicts a cloud computing environment, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 depicts abstraction model layers, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 depicts a functional block diagram of a data processingenvironment, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;and

FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart of operational steps of a program foroptimizing cloud resources, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention allow for connecting a virtualmachine and application(s) by providing the application(s) with theresources of virtual machine. Resources may be a central processing unit(CPU), memory, persistent storage, or any number of input/out devices.Additionally, the present invention monitors the virtual machine for anychanges in resources. If there is a change in resources of the virtualmachine, metadata found in the present invention is modified andapplication(s) can modify themselves accordingly, depending upon theresources they utilize. The metadata contains information about each ofthe application(s) and how they interact with the virtual machine,specifically the resources of the virtual machine.

Some embodiments of the present invention recognize that current ProductAs A Service (PAAS) offerings, and the like, are not currently optimizedfor cloud environments. Currently, all products or applications in thePAAS must be redesigned with cloud deployment in mind so as to allow theproducts or applications to be a truly workload optimized solutions.Additionally, the current approach has a unique problem in that, duringa scale-out/scale-in scenario when virtual machine resources aredynamically changed by provisioning/de-provisioning resources, there areno ways that these additional resources are consumed by the products orapplications without the input of a human, for example a productadministrator.

It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes adetailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachingsrecited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented inconjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). Theconsumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructureincluding network, servers, operating systems, storage, or evenindividual application capabilities, with the possible exception oflimited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a schematic of an example of a cloud computingnode is shown. Cloud computing node 10 is only one example of a suitablecloud computing node and is not intended to suggest any limitation as tothe scope of use or functionality of embodiments of the inventiondescribed herein. Regardless, cloud computing node 10 is capable ofbeing implemented and/or performing any of the functionality set forthhereinabove.

In cloud computing node 10 there is a computer system/server 12, whichis operational with numerous other general purpose or special purposecomputing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with computer system/server 12 include, but are notlimited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thinclients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframecomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments thatinclude any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

Computer system/server 12 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 12 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As shown in FIG. 1, computer system/server 12 in cloud computing node 10is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. Thecomponents of computer system/server 12 may include, but are not limitedto, one or more processors or processing units 16, a system memory 28,and a bus 18 that couples various system components including systemmemory 28 to processor 16.

Bus 18 represents one or more of any of several types of bus structures,including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, anaccelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of avariety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation,such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus,Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 12 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 12, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

System memory 28 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 30 and/or cachememory 32. Computer system/server 12 may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 34 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus 18 by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,memory 28 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g.,at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out thefunctions of embodiments of the invention.

Program/utility 40, having a set (at least one) of program modules 42,may be stored in memory 28 by way of example, and not limitation, aswell as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one ormore application programs, other program modules, and program data orsome combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules 42 generally carry out the functions and/ormethodologies of embodiments of the invention as described herein.

Computer system/server 12 may also communicate with one or more externaldevices 14 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 24, etc.;one or more devices that enable a user to interact with computersystem/server 12; and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.)that enable computer system/server 12 to communicate with one or moreother computing devices. Such communication can occur via Input/Output(I/O) interfaces 22. Still yet, computer system/server 12 cancommunicate with one or more networks such as a local area network(LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g.,the Internet) via network adapter 20. As depicted, network adapter 20communicates with the other components of computer system/server 12 viabus 18. It should be understood that although not shown, other hardwareand/or software components could be used in conjunction with computersystem/server 12. Examples, include, but are not limited to: microcode,device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays,RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 2, illustrative cloud computing environment 50 isdepicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 50 comprises one or morecloud computing nodes 10 with which local computing devices used bycloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA)or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C,and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 10 maycommunicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physicallyor virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community,Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combinationthereof. This allows cloud computing environment 50 to offerinfrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloudconsumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 54A-N shownin FIG. 2 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes10 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type ofcomputerized device over any type of network and/or network addressableconnection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 3, a set of functional abstraction layers providedby cloud computing environment 50 (FIG. 2) is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 3 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of theinvention are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers andcorresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include mainframes, in oneexample IBM® zSeries® systems; RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer)architecture based servers, in one example IBM pSeries® systems; IBMxSeries® systems; IBM BladeCenter® systems; storage devices; networksand networking components. Examples of software components includenetwork application server software, in one example IBM WebSphere®application server software; and database software, in one example IBMDB2® database software. (IBM, zSeries, pSeries, xSeries, BladeCenter,WebSphere, and DB2 are trademarks of International Business MachinesCorporation registered in many jurisdictions worldwide).

Virtualization layer 62 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers;virtual storage; virtual networks, including virtual private networks;virtual applications and operating systems; and virtual clients.

In one example, management layer 64 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement of computingresources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks withinthe cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing provide costtracking as resources are utilized within the cloud computingenvironment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may comprise applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management providescloud computing resource allocation and management such that requiredservice levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning andfulfillment provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloudcomputing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated inaccordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 66 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation; software development and lifecycle management; virtualclassroom education delivery; data analytics processing; transactionprocessing; and mobile desktop.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram illustrating a data processingenvironment, generally designated 400, in accordance with one embodimentof the present invention. FIG. 4 provides only an illustration of oneimplementation and does not imply any limitations with regard to thesystems and environments in which different embodiments may beimplemented. Many modifications to the depicted embodiment may be madeby those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of theinvention as recited by the claims.

An embodiment of data processing environment 400 includes clientcomputer 410, node 420, interconnected over network 402. Network 402 canbe, for example, a local area network (LAN), a telecommunicationsnetwork, a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, or anycombination of the three, and include wired, wireless, or fiber opticconnections. In general, network 402 can be any combination ofconnections and protocols that will support communications betweenclient computer 410, node 420, and any other computer connected tonetwork 402, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

In example embodiments, computer 410 and node 420 may be a laptop,tablet, or netbook personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a smart phone, or any programmableelectronic device capable of communicating with any computing devicewithin data processing environment 400. In certain embodiments, computer410 collectively represents a computer system utilizing clusteredcomputers and components (e.g., database server computers, applicationserver computers, etc.) that act as a single pool of seamless resourceswhen accessed by elements of data processing environment 400, such as ina cloud computing environment. In general, computer 410 isrepresentative of any electronic device or combination of electronicdevices capable of executing computer readable program instructions.Computer 410 may include components as depicted and described in detailwith respect to cloud computing node 10, as described in reference toFIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

Client computer 410 includes client application 412. In an embodiment,client application 412 is a program, application, or subprogram of alarger program that allows a user of computer to view and communicatewith any application found on node 420, discussed in depth later. Clientapplication 412 may be similar to a user interface. A user interface(not shown) is a program that provides an interface between a user andan application. A user interface refers to the information (such asgraphic, text, and sound) a program presents to a user and the controlsequences the user employs to control the program. There are many typesof user interfaces. In one embodiment, the user interface may be agraphical user interface (GUI). A GUI is a type of user interface thatallows users to interact with electronic devices, such as a keyboard andmouse, through graphical icons and visual indicators, such as secondarynotations, as opposed to text-based interfaces, typed command labels, ortext navigation. In computers, GUIs were introduced in reaction to theperceived steep learning curve of command-line interfaces, whichrequired commands to be typed on the keyboard. The actions in GUIs areoften performed through direct manipulation of the graphics elements.For example, client application may be a web browser, an email program,etc.

Node 420 includes virtual machine 422, metalayer 430 and application(s)440, 442, 444. In an embodiment, virtual machine 422 is an emulation ofa particular computer system, in this case node 420. In an embodiment,metalayer 430 is a program, application, or subprogram of a largerprogram that bridges the virtual machine 422 and the product offering,application(s) 440, 442, 444, by determining the resources from virtualmachine 422 that are needed by application(s) 440, 442, 444 upon setupof data processing environment 400 and notifies application(s) 440, 442,444 of any resource changes to virtual machine 422. Metalayer 430 is aprogram representative of program 40, as described in reference to FIG.1, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.Application(s) 440, 442, 444 may be any application found in a platformas a service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and Infrastructure asa Service (IaaS) offering, including, but not limited to, facilities forapplication design, application development, testing, and deployment aswell as services such as team collaboration, web service integration,and marshalling, database integration, security, scalability, storage,persistence, state management, application versioning, applicationinstrumentation, developer community facilitation and service management(including monitoring, workflow management, discovery, reservation,etc.).

In an embodiment, as shown, virtual machine 422 is connected tometalayer 430. In an alternative embodiment, virtual machines 422 may beany number of virtual machines located on any number of nodes. In anembodiment, virtual machine 422 may be created by a hypervisor (notshown). In an alternative embodiment, virtual machine 422 may be createdby a function of the operating system found on node 420.

A hypervisor provides the ability to divide physical computing systemresources into isolated logical partitions. Logical partitioning is theability to logically divide a real, or physical, server into two or moreindependent virtual servers, and one or more applications execute ineach virtual machine or logical partition as if the virtual machine 422or logical partition was a separate physical computer. Each logicalpartition, also called a virtual system, virtual server, or virtualmachine, operates like an independent computing system running its ownoperating system. Hypervisors can allocate dedicated processors, I/Oadapters, and memory to each virtual machine and can also allocateshared processors to each virtual machine. In some manners ofvirtualization, the hypervisor creates a shared processor pool fromwhich the hypervisor allocates time slices of virtual processors to thevirtual machines according to predetermined allocation percentages. Inother words, the hypervisor creates virtual processors from physicalprocessors so that virtual machines can share the physical processors,which includes sharing cache space and memory bandwidth, while runningindependent operating environments.

In addition to creating and managing the virtual machines, thehypervisor manages communication between the virtual machines via avirtual network. To facilitate communication, each virtual machine mayhave a virtual adapter for communication between the virtual machines,via the virtual network and with other computing or storage deviceswithin a computing system via a real network. The type of the virtualadapter depends on the operating system used by the virtual machine.Examples of virtual adapters include virtual Ethernet adapters, virtualFiber Channel adapters, virtual Small Computer Serial Interface (SCSI)adapters, and virtual serial adapters.

In an embodiment, metalayer 430 is a program, application, or subprogramof a larger program that connects virtual machine 422 and application(s)440, 442, 444 by providing the application(s) 440, 442, 444 with theresources of virtual machine 422. Resources of virtual machine 422 maybe a central processing unit (CPU), memory, persistent storage, or anynumber of input/out devices. Additionally, metalayer 430 monitorsvirtual machine 422 for any changes in resources. If there is a changein resources of virtual machine 422, metadata found in the metalayer 430is used to tune the configuration of application(s) 440, 442, 444,depending upon the resources they utilize. The metadata containsinformation about each of the application(s) 440, 442, 444 and how theyinteract with virtual machine 422, specifically the resources of virtualmachine 422. This metadata can be injected into the metalayer 430 inmultiple ways including by the application, administrator or anotherprogram. Metalayer 430 may be found in the management layer 64, asdescribed in reference to FIG. 3, discussed previously.

In an embodiment, application(s) 440, 442, 444 may be any applicationfound in a platform as a service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS),and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering, including, but notlimited to, facilities for application design, application development,testing, and deployment as well as services such as team collaboration,web service integration, and marshalling, database integration,security, scalability, storage, persistence, state management,application versioning, application instrumentation, developer communityfacilitation and service management (including monitoring, workflowmanagement, discovery, reservation, etc.). In an alternative embodiment,there may be a single application 440. In yet another alternativeembodiment, there may be any number of applications or there may beapplications that run as a function of other applications. Whenapplication(s) 440, 442, 444 is initialized, the application(s) 440,442, 444 notifies metalayer 430 of the resources that they will needfrom virtual machine 422. Additionally, application 440, 442, 444 maynotify metalayer 430 of any resources it may need from virtual machine422 that are not needed all the time or not needed to run at all, but ifthey are made available from virtual machine 422, metalayer 430 shouldnotify application 440, 442, 444 so the application can connect andutilize those resources.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of workflow 500 depicting operational steps forautomated exploitation of changes to cloud resources, in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, the steps ofthe workflow are performed by metalayer 430. Alternatively, steps of theworkflow can be performed by any other program while working withmetalayer 430. In a preferred embodiment, a user, via a user interfacediscussed previously, can invoke workflow 500 upon determining that theywould like to setup application(s) in a virtual environment. In analternative embodiment, workflow 500 can be invoked automatically underthe control of another program, for example, upon the hypervisor,discussed previously, creating virtual machine 422 and changes tovirtual machine 422 being sent to metalayer 430 to begin a step inworkflow 500.

In step S505, one or more applications are deployed. In an embodiment,metalayer 430 deploys the one or more applications. In an embodiment,metalayer 430 is notified of at least one application(s) 440, 442, 444that will be part of the data processing environment 400. In anembodiment, a user, via client application 412, may decide on a numberof applications as a part of a PaaS environment. In an alternativeembodiment, metalayer 430 may be notified of the at least oneapplication(s) 440, 442, 444 from another program, as in a case of anautomated scaling up of system resources upon another programdetermining there is a need for additional applications. For example, aPaaS environment for “Websphere Application Pattern Production” mayconsist of three layers. First, a webserver is used to accept end userrequests and then forward the dynamic requests to a second layer, theappserver(websphere) layer. The appserver layer in turn depends on athird layer, the database layer, to fetch the data needed for requestprocessing. In an embodiment, metalayer 430 deploys, in other wordsinstalls, the required applications on node 420. In an alternativeembodiment, metalayer 430 is notified of at least one applicationalready deployed on node 420 by another application (not shown). In anembodiment, metalayer 430 may setup virtual machine 422. In analternative embodiment, as discussed previously, a hypervisor may havepreviously setup virtual machine 422.

In an embodiment, metalayer 430 determines the current resourceallocation for virtual machine 422, and then using that resourceinformation, determines what connections each application(s) 440, 442,444 needs to make with metalayer 430 and virtual machine 422. In otherwords, metalayer 430 determines which resources each application needs,saves that information in metadata found in metalayer 430, and thenmetalayer 430 is used as an actuator or bridge between application(s)440, 442, 444, and virtual machine 422. After determining the availableresources from the virtual machine 422, metalayer 430 notes the resourceallocation in metadata found in metalayer 430, and application(s) 440,442, 444, using the information about virtual machine 422 in themetadata, are distributed resources as needed. Metalayer 430 alsoincludes, in the metadata of metalayer, information about a “fudgefactor”. The “fudge factor” is used when changes to resources of virtualmachine 422 are made and then the resource allocations are passed toapplication(s) 440, 442, 444 as a protection against overusing resourcesof virtual machine 422. In other words, the “fudge factor” may reducethe determined resource allocations based on the changes to theresources of the virtual machine by a small amount so as to notoverburden the total available resources of virtual machine 422.

For example, in the “Websphere Application Pattern Production”environment, the resource of virtual machine 422 may be a configurableelement, in other words elements that when there are changes to theresource of virtual machine 422 then the change in resources will bepassed on to application(s) 440, 442, 444. In this example theconfigurable element may be the “thread pool”. The name of the resourcemay be “poolsize”, the resource depends on the resources of the CPU, therelationship is “proportional” and the “fudge factor” is 1.

Metalayer 430 monitors the virtual machine resources (step S510). Inother words, metalayer 430 will monitor virtual machine 422. In anembodiment, metalayer 430 will know the initial resource allocation tovirtual machine 422 at the time of setup of application(s) 440, 442,444. Metalayer 430 will then continue to monitor the resources ofvirtual machine 422 and record the resources in the metadata ofmetalayer 430. For example, upon setup of application(s) 440, 442, 444,the metalayer 430 may have indicated in metadata that the initialpoolsize was 50 and the initial CPU size was 1. In an embodiment,virtual machine 422 indicates resource utilization updates to metalayer430. For example, updates are sent periodically (e.g., every minute,hourly, etc.) from virtual machine 422 to metalayer 430. In analternative example, updates are sent from virtual machine 422 tometalayer 430 any time the resources of virtual machine 422 aremodified. In an alternative embodiment, metalayer 430 requests updatesfrom virtual machine 422 periodically (e.g., every minute, hourly,etc.).

Metalayer 430 determines whether there is a change in virtual machineresources (decision block S515). In other words, are the resources ofvirtual machine 422 different, currently, than what they were during thesetup of application(s) 440, 442, 444 or than what they were during aprevious check. If there are no changes to the resources of virtualmachine 422 (decision block S515, no branch), metalayer 430 continues tomonitor virtual machine resources (step S510). In an embodiment,metalayer 430 determines whether there is a change periodically (e.g.,every minute, hourly, etc.). In an alternative embodiment, metalayer 430determined whether there is a change when metalayer 430 receives aresource modification from virtual machine 422, discussed previously.

If there are changes to the resources of virtual machine 422 (decisionblock S515, yes branch), metalayer 430 modifies the metadata found inmetalayer 430 (step S520). In other words, metalayer 430 will change theinformation in the metadata about the resource that was changed invirtual machine 422. For example, if CPU number is changed to 2, this isdifferent than the CPU number of 1 stored in metadata in the previouslydiscussed example. Metalayer 430, using these changes, may determine anew poolsize using a predefined equation. For example, the followingequation “#newpoolsize=oldpoolsize*(newCPU/oldCPU)*(1−fudgefactor) maybe used. In the previously discussed example, this equation would end upcalculating #newpoolsize to be 90 based upon this calculation“#newpoolsize=50*(2/1)*(1-0.1). Once metalayer 430 has calculated thepoolsize, this information is updated in the metadata, andapplication(s) 440, 442, 444 now utilize the updated metadata to use theincreased or decreased amount of resources.

In an embodiment, a typical distributed application architecture mayconsist of a number of applications working together. Each applicationmay be dependent on another application, in other words, upstreamapplications may depend on the workload of downstream applications andvice versa. Each application may get the resources needed to performoperations from individual virtual machines. As changes are made to theresource requirements of an application of a certain virtual machine,this may change the resource requirements of another application using adifferent virtual machine. For example, VM1 (virtual machine #1)provides resources to APP1 (application #1) and VM2 provides resourcesto APP2. APP1 and APP2 communicate with VM1 and VM2, respectively, usingthe same metalayer described above. APP1 and APP2 work together toperform a service and therefore if APP1's workload increases, APP2'sworkload may need to increase as well. If there is a change in APP1'sworkload that causes changes to the resource requirements needed fromVM1, the workload of APP2 will change accordingly and the resourcerequirements needed from VM2 will change as well. The metalayer thatcommunicates between APP1 and VM1 will communicate with the metalayerthat communicates between APP2 and VM2 to automatically adjust theresource allocations to fulfill any increase or decrease in resourcerequirements. In an embodiment, this can be aided by the use of a VMGraph that is a group of virtual machines that connect relatedapplications to optimize resource allocation.

The programs described herein are identified based upon the applicationfor which they are implemented in a specific embodiment of theinvention. However, it should be appreciated that any particular programnomenclature herein is used merely for convenience, and thus theinvention should not be limited to use solely in any specificapplication identified and/or implied by such nomenclature.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles ofthe embodiment, the practical application or technical improvement overtechnologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinaryskill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for automated exploitation of virtualmachine resource modifications, the method comprising: deploying, by oneor more computer processors, at least one application in a distributedcomputing environment; providing, by one or more computer processors, atleast one resource of a virtual machine to the at least one applicationin the distributed computing environment, wherein the at least oneresource of the virtual machine provided is recorded in metadata and theat least one application receives the metadata and using the metadata,the at least one application determines how much of the at least oneresource of the virtual machine to utilize; determining, by one or morecomputer processors, a change to the at least one resource of thevirtual machine using a metalayer, wherein the metalayer includes, inthe metadata, a factor, and wherein the factor is a level of utilizationnot to be exceeded for any resource of the at least one resource toprotect against overusing the at least one resource of the virtualmachine; and responsive to determining the change to the at least oneresource of the virtual machine, modifying, by one or more computerprocessors, the metadata, wherein the at least one application uses themodified metadata to determine how much of the changed at least oneresource of the virtual machine to utilize.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one resource is at least one of: central processingunit, memory, persistent storage, input device, and output device. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one application is at leastone of: an application in a platform as a service environment, anapplication in a software as a service environment, and an applicationin an infrastructure as a service offering.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising: deploying, by one or more computer processors,another application in the distributed computing environment; providing,by one or more computer processors, at least one resource of a secondvirtual machine to the another application in the distributed computingenvironment, wherein the at least one resource of the second virtualmachine provided is recorded in a second metadata and the anotherapplication receives the second metadata and using the second metadatathe another application determines how much of the at least one resourceof the second virtual machine to utilize; responsive to modifying themetadata, modifying, by one or more computer processors, the secondmetadata; and responsive to modifying the second metadata, providing, byone or more computer processors, the at least one resource of the secondvirtual machine to the another application in the distributed computingenvironment, wherein the another application receives the modifiedsecond metadata and using the modified second metadata the anotherapplication determines how much of the at least one resource of thesecond virtual machine to utilize.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thechange to the at least one resource of the virtual machine is one of: anincrease to the at least one resource of the virtual machine or adecrease to the at least one resource of the virtual machine.